We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel

Adam switches from teaching poetry to teaching Moby Dick, one of the only two books he brought with him to the ghetto. The children are hungry, and to help curb their appetite, Adam reads a description of whale brains being cooked and eaten. The students discuss how they are so hungry that they are ready to eat anything, even non-kosher whale brains.

When the group walks out after class, they spot the light on in the Nowolipki Street Café, which hasn’t been open in months. They peer inside to see Szifra enjoying a luxurious meal by herself. A crowd gathers, and people murmur that Szifra has been trading sexual favors with the Nazi to be able to eat like this. Someone bitterly calls out “whore.”

Adam interviews Jakub for the archive. The boy confesses that he doesn’t have many memories of his life before the ghetto. He also reveals that he is not very hungry anymore, as Szifra has found a new source of food. She has been bad-tempered and mean as of late, telling her brothers to be nice to her, as she is saving their lives. Sometimes she calls them a burden, as she could have left the ghetto already but is getting papers organized so that she can take her brothers with her.